*cue the music......"CAUSE YOU HAD A BAD DAY"

OK where do i even start.............

Saturday morning, as we were leaving the house, and it was pouring BUCKETS outside, thunder and lightening, I was praying with Sister Vera, and I said "We thank thee from this opportunity to test our faith today" and BOY DID HF TEST US! 

okay im just going to make a list of the things that went wrong, just to be funny:

1. as previously stated, it was raining ridiculously hard, we were drenched completely in 30 seconds

2. We had to arrange a blessing for the grandpa of a less active, and we call and talked to EVERY priesthood holder in basically the WHOLE city and everyday gave a different excuse as to why they could do it.........

3. as we were calling all these people, our phone minutes ran out for the month HAHAHA 

4. we were fasting with one of the members in the ward, and we had marked for us to pass by before lunch to end our fast and say a prayer, AND HE WASNT FREAKING HOME!?

5. so in the midst of all of this, in the street, in the middle of the storm, we were like "ok lets just get to lunch and eat a be happy" and so we walked an hour to our lunch appointment because she lives at the end of the universe in our area. *knock knock* silence..............................YEP SHE FORGOT AND WASNT HOME. I was like "yeah thats it im done"

I turned to sister vera and said "wow that was i like the most unfortunate hour of my entire life"

But hey, God answered my prayer with MANY opportunities to test my faith this week woohoo!!!!!!!!

But actually our week wasnt THAT bad, Im just being a little dramatic so you guys pay attention.

We did some exchanges this week, and I was SUPER blessed because we got to go to ALEGRETE and I got to visit my favorite recent convert IRMÃO NELSON!! Hahahaha I surprised him, because he didnt know I was coming, and we both cried. I love him so much!!!! and he was being such a dork when we were taking pictures so Ill attach a few of them below with some of this funny faces :)

SO we learned alot about hope this week, the God is preparing people, elects, to be baptized to meet the church here in our area! Ive had the scripture Alma 13:24 in my head all week, that talks about exactly that! We dont see it, but HF really prepares peoples hearts to receive us and receive the gospel! SO, even though the work is SLOW and DIFFICULT, we need to have the faith that there are still people here to be reached!! 

AMEN

Love, Sister Lipps 

fotos:

me and Irmão nelson!!! i love him to death

me and sister carriel, because she goes home in FOUR weeks!! QUE LOUCURA!

Sister Vera and i mentally preparing to leave the house in the rain......(not pictured: our tears)

LOOK I MADE CAKE AND IM LEARNING HOW TO BE A MOM!!! (everyone please pray that when i have children, i can learn how to make real food) 

Our weekly goals "dont say the word ídiot" "pinky promise?" "pinky promise"

You know how sometimes you dont do anything but just sit and look at the wall for like hours and then you literally start feeling sick just because of the fact that you are doing nothing?

THAT WAS MY WEEK.

Ok so on monday we went to santa maria for our mission counsel meeting, and i had an appointment wednesday after, so long story short we could only come home to uruguaiana thursday and start working in our area friday AND I ALMOST LOST MY MIND BECAUSE WE DIDNT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO IN SANTA MARIA FOR LIKE 4 DAYS. we literally sat in the mission office rotting away eating litle candies they keep on the counter. HA so our week was SUPER LAME

LOL but we made up for it because we worked super hard these three days we were here and ended up with a bunch of tasks to do this week! Last night i was a STRESS CASE after our weekly planning and i was ranting to sister gibson about all the things i had on my to-do list and after like 5 min i threw myself on my bed like "im done" and then i heard a crack and my bed broke and i fell and then we laughed and then we cried HAHAHA .

MIRACLE OF THE WEEK:

we met this guy sitting on the sidewalk this week, so obvi we started talkining to him, and we ended up teaching him on the sidewalk mesmo and he was SO interested in the restoration and at the end of the lesson, he accepted our invitation to be baptized and come to church with us!! AND THEN, he told us that he lied when we first met him, that he didnt actually just move here from porto alegre, but that the day before he was released from prision..............SO instead of being kind of freaked out, my first thought was "WHAT THAT IS SO AWESOME! THIS GOSPEL IS GOING TO CHANGE HIS LIFE!!!"

And then we went on sunday morning to take him to church, AND HE WAS ACTUALLY AWAKE AND WAITING FOR US (which NEVER happens) AND HE CAME TO CHURCH AND LOVED IT!!!!

oh you guys, ill keep yall updated because i see SO much potencial in him its CRAZY!

I love being a missionary!!!!!!!!

ok so lots of other cool things happened this week that i dont have to type it all, but my message of the day is that we CANNOT look at people, and thing about how they WERE, but we have to see them and imagine who they CAN BE! God cares infinitely more about who we are becoming than about who we once were. (just look at alma the yonger, alma chapter 36)

I KNOW THAT GOD IS OUR LOVING FATHER, AND THAT HE HAS A PLAN FOR US, AND IT IS ESSENTIAL THAT WE CHANGE AND GROW TO BECOME MORE LIKE HIM!

love you all!!!!!!!!!

Sister Lipps <3333333333333

 

 

"MY MOM IS AN ANGEL"

OK so this week was marvelousssssssssssssssssss!

First off, OBVIOUSLY, it was general conference, its better than CHRISTMAS and christmas is pretty freaking good so that is saying something.

Ok we has this one experience this week that was SO INCREDIBLE for me!!! Me met this less active, Joseph, and he asked us to come and visit him because his grandparents were needing a priesthood blessing. SO we went to go meet them, and his grandparents must be 70 or 75, but they are both REALLY sick, and his grandmother is in a wheelchair and cant talk anymore because she has........(ok i dont remember, but its serious). So as we were talking to them, I saw a photo on the wall of a SUPER beautiful woman with a fancy dress flowing in the Wind, and i was like "wow this is the most beautiful Picture i have ever seen" and THEN i realized that it was his grandmother, 50 years ago!! So we started teaching Joseph and his grandfather about the Atonement, and how Christ doesnt only save us from our sins and mistakes, but also from our pains and illnesses (Alma 7:11-13). It was SUCH a spiritual lesson, but I could see how his grandmother WAS and how she IS now, and I felt the Spirit whisper to my heart "when we ressurrect, she will be healed, it will be her again"

Then the grandfather said that hes spent all these years that theyve been sick trying to understand what he did wrong, why God was punishing him. It was SUCH a wonderful moment when we got to explain that our trials are not to PUNISH us, but they are to STRENGTHEN us. to REFINE us. and after this life, we will all be healed PHYSICALLY, SPIRITUALLY, EMOTIONALLY, and MENTALLY. I felt in that moment, SO MUCH gratitude for our Savior, because I felt and could see the effects of his sacrifice for us, and I now that we cann all be healed, we can all be perfected, if we put our trust in him.

(also he blessed me because he helped me wait until after we had left the house to start balling lol #blessings)

Ok ONE MORE THING before i go (time is short because we are going to santa maria in an hour for our mission counsel!)

Yesterday, the talk that touched me the most was Sunday afternoon, K Brett Nattress, who said that everyday when he was growing up, his mom read the book of mórmon too him, and he never payed attention, and finally he said "mom, why are you Reading?? Im not even listening!" and she said "The prophet promissed that if a parent reads with their child the book of mórmon every day, she will not lose him. I will not lose you" and what came into my mind imediately was my precious momma, who also read us the book of mórmon every morning, and I have to admit that mom i never really payed the atention i should have, but THANK YOU FOR NOT LOSING ME! MY MOM IS A ANGEL YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I love my mom.

I love the book of mórmon

I love brasil

I love being a missionary

I love the 12 year old less active who, when we said at the end of the lesson "do you have any questions?" responded "yeah, can you guys do this with your tongue?" and then made one of those hot dog butterflies with this tongue.

I love you all!!!!!!!

LOVE, SISTER LIPPS

pictures: our last night with sister barbosa because she was transferred, so we made cookies and accidentally stayed up talking...........

MY ZONE THREW ME A SURPRISE BIRHTDAY PARTY LAST MONDAY!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THEM

more pics of our zone, and sister vera and i and our (lack of) muscles. #SWOLL